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Talk:My Sister's Keeper/@comment-108.39.74.143-20200101161309
Aerith and Bob: Anna is actually short for Andromeda in the book. (Bryan explicitly states it's on her Birth Certificate) *'Abusive Parents: Sara is the emotional abuse type, though she isn't doing it because she hates Anna; rather, it's because her single-minded devotion to Kate blinds her to the needs of her other children. When Anna was five, Kate needed bone marrow from her so Sara had doctors restrain Anna while they extracted the bone marrow. Whenever Anna questions her, Sara always blackmails her saying "why won't you help your sister?"' *'The Alcoholic: Brian becomes addicted to alcohol after Anna's death, although he gets better.' *'Artistic License – Medicine: The book portrays savior siblings as being born specifically to be life long donors to their siblings and have no legal ability to refuse. In reality, the only thing taken from most savior siblings is their umbilical cord, which contain stem cells that can have major rejuvenating properties for the sick siblings. After that, parents cannot force their children donate organs or bone marrow against their will. And even if the child gives their consent, most hospitals won't accept organ donations from anyone under 18.' *'Billy Needs an Organ: The story centers around Kate's need for a kidney and Anna's reluctance (actually encouraged by Kate) to donate one.' *'Bittersweet Ending: Anna wins the lawsuit. On her way to the hospital to see Kate she is in a car accident that leaves her brain dead. Alexander decides her kidney should be donated to Kate which saves Kate's life. So Sara gets what she wanted - Kate gets to live - but it comes at the cost of her younger daughter's life, and there are no guarantees Kate will stay in remission.' *'The Caretaker: Sarah of cancer-struck daughter Kate.' *'Debate and Switch: Due to her sudden death in a car crash shortly afterward, the outcome of Anna's lawsuit is meaningless, so no-one finds out what the ramifications of her decision would have actually been. Even before that, after the lawsuit was decided, when her lawyer asked what she was going to do, her reply was "Ten years from now, I'd like to be Kate's sister", implying she was planning to go through with the donation despite having just fought (and won) a lawsuit over her right to refuse that very procedure.' *'Designer Babies: Anna is probably a more realistic example of this trope.' *'Diabolus ex Machina: Anna wins legal emancipation so her mother will stop using her as a living organ farm — then dies in a car crash and her organs are used anyway.' *'Disabled Love Interest: Kate is this briefly to a boy she meets at the hospital, but he dies shortly after they meet.' *'Downer Ending: The book ends with Anna dying in a car crash and her organs being harvested for Kate, while Sara gets her way yet again.' *'Expository Hairstyle Change: In the present Sara's hair is long and straight. When it shows Kate, Anna and Jesse as children it is longer and curly. In the ending scenes it is cut short.' *'The Hero Dies: Anna herself.' *'Ill Girl: Kate.' *'It's All About Me: Like many of Picoult's fictional mothers, Sara has this trait. For most of the book, she believes that Anna has filed the lawsuit to annoy her. She's genuinely surprised when Kate reveals how she actually feels, and her first thought when she is confronted with her daughter's fate — Anna's brain-dead, organ-harvested bodyis not "my poor baby" but "what do you call a parent who's lost a child?"' *'Knight Templar Parent: Sara, who both creates and blights Anna's life in order to save Kate, while dismissing anyone who isn't of any use in the pursuit of that goal. Including her own son.' *'Littlest Cancer Patient: Kate, who has leukemia. Played with in that Kate is actually tired of fighting a losing battle against her own body and wants Anna to win the lawsuit so she can die in peace.' *'Living Emotional Crutch: Jesse lampshades Anna's role in the family as this. Sara sees herself as Kate's emotional crutch, but in reality it's the other way around (she defines herself by her child's illness, and her role as mother/martyr).' *'Love Makes You Evil: Everything Sara did was for Kate's survival. She was so focused on trying to save Kate that she inadvertently harmed her other two children in the process (Jesse by neglecting him, Anna by using her as a perpetual blood/tissue donor for years on end).' *'Middle Child Syndrome: Inverted; Kate is the middle child of the family, and gets all of the attention because of her cancer.' *'Parental Favoritism: There are countless examples. The mother, Sara, mainly cares about Kate and Kate only. She only cares about Anna because she can help Kate. Here are the more depressing examples.' **'While pregnant with Anna, she hadn't even thought of a name, she was more happy with the thought that the baby would help Kate. It is only until the book progresses that Sara does learn to love the real Anna more.' **'Kate needs more lymphocytes from Anna. The appointment falls during her friend's birthday party and Anna is allowed to stay for half of the party. As Sara is taking Anna to the car, she asks why she had to leave. Sara is so angry because "her sister is more important than cake and ice cream", that she tells Anna to stop acting like a five year old. Anna was five at the time.' **'The oldest son Jesse is neglected after it is found out he is not a genetic match for Kate. Sara finds it hard to feel sorry when he, a 6 year old, gets his blood tested to see if he is a match for Kate. As a result he becomes a chain smoker and a Pyro Maniac.' **'Another example with Jesse: at one point Sara is too depressed over Kate to take Jesse to shop for new cleats like she'd promised, and tells him they won't be going. Jesse gets upset and points out that she isn't even doing anything, and Sara screams at him until he runs upstairs upset. When Sara later goes up to apologize to him, she discovers that Jesse has used a fork to pull out his braces, and he says to her, "Now you never have to take me anywhere."' *'Pyro Maniac: Jesse.' *'Ripped from the Headlines: My Sister's Keeper was based on a real life story of a family who had a child (unintentionally) that was an exact match for their daughter who had cancer.' *'Running Gag: Campbell never giving anyone a straight answer once they ask what his service dog is for, since he's not blind. But he is epileptic.' *'Scholarship Student: Julia at the Wheeler School where she and Campbell met.' *'Shoot the Shaggy Dog: In the original novel, at least. Anna's battle for medical emancipation is proven pointless when she dies in a car accident and both her kidneys are harvested for her older sister.' *'Third Line, Some Waiting: Campbell (Anna's lawyer) and Julia's relationship.' *'Title Drop: When Julia turns up at the Fitzgeralds' and asks Jesse where Anna is, he replies "Am I my sister's keeper?"' *'The Unfavorite: Jesse, and to a lesser extent, Anna. See Parental Favoritism above.' *'Useless Bystander Parent: Brian. While not happy with Anna's Walking Transplant status, he pretty much lets Sara get her way all the time, resulting in this trope.' *'We Named the Monkey "Jack": Campbell's dog, Judge.' *'Walking Transplant: Anna was conceived as an organ donor for her sister Kate.'